You can’t imagine how many times people ask us: “is a blog really necessary?” The short answer would be: absolutely. The longer answer follows.

Besides brand recognition and thought leadership, blogs have the capability – if written and shared appropriately – to generate fast-acting sales. If these blogs are tagged correctly and are keyword-rich, they have the potential to be the primary referral to a company’s website.

The challenge is to think of your blog as a repository for your lead generation and sales assets. There really is no way you can lose if you have strong content that is well delivered. Companies across many industries are taking advantage of online content marketing to effectively generate leads and new business.

UNDERSTAND AND CONNECT WITH READERS THROUGH YOUR BLOG

Lead generation is constantly in motion. Websites, however, are typically considered static, meaning that they usually aren’t updated consistently like blog sites. Regular content updates on these blogs drive fresh information to prospects and to search engines. The beauty of it? Readers love it.

Like with everything else, there’s always a catch. Even with proper analytics in place, you still never really know who is visiting your site; the visitor could be a first-timer, a warm lead, a sales-ready lead or potentially standing somewhere in-between. With that in mind, it’s most effective to diversify your content so that it applies to all different personas.

Keep in mind that even though you are generating traffic to your blog, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee you an obvious ROI. Keep your expectations realistic and understand that blogging is an excellent tool to help you generate leads, but not to replace any of your other lead generation tactics.

Make it a New Year’s resolution for your business and lead generation sales team for 2012 to welcome the idea of blogging.